~ Hardcover

Revealing the saga of Agnes, charged with the brutal murder of her former mistress and the last young woman to be publicly beheaded in Iceland, Burial Rites evokes a dramatic existence in a distant time and place, while questioning how one woman can hope to endure when her life depends upon the stories told by others?

Inspired by true events and set against Iceland's stark landscape, Burial Rites is an astonishing and exhilarating novel rich with lyricism that gives voice to a fierce and daring heroine and heralds the arrival of a great literary talent in Hannah Kent. 

"Kent's first novel, Burial Rites, is an accomplished gem, its prose as crisp and sparkling as its northern setting.  Here is an original new voice, with a deep and lovely grasp of language and story." -- Geraldine Brooks, author of People of the Book, Year of Wonders, and Horse